The Tigs go up against Jared Weaver tonight (brother of former Tiger pitcher Jeff Weaver who beat the shit out of us in the World Series) in his second start of the season. He started on the DL with elbow tendinitis and then made his first start on Tuesday. He allowed four runs in just four innings of work, taking the loss against the Oakland A's. Weaver was one of the more dominant young pitchers of last season, still ranking behind Justin Verlander and Fransisco Liriano in my book, going 11-2 with a sub 3.00 ERA.
Mike Maroth is taking the mound for the Tigs, hoping that the bullpen won't once again blow one of his late leads. Mikey has looked decent so far this season, not great, not bad, just his normal self. Even though his ERA is at a bloated 5.40, he's attempting to become the first Tiger pitcher to get three wins on the season.
What's going to be interesting tonight is the return of Gary Sheffield after yesterday's hiatus. He's batting a paltry .119 right now and is just looking allll out of sync and out of whack, so hopefully the day off yesterday will get him right. If not, then expect me to be here after the game, ranting and raving as always. Placido Polanco is not exactly the big bat that pitchers will be fearing, and he's going to need protection behind him in the batting order if he's to continue this tear he's on.
Keys to the game-
- Sheffield needs to get on track. Big game tonight
- Get to Weaver early and often, get him off his game and don't let him get settled in.
- Maroth needs to keep the Angels quiet and leave the game on a good note, so the bullpen doesn't have to deal with those pesky problems of momentum and close games. You know, those things the bullpen is known for stopping.
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